


Life is Normal

by smoldoggo



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Mystery, Post-Canon, Romance, Suicide Attempt, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-23 19:39:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11408859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoldoggo/pseuds/smoldoggo
Summary: Max Caulfield has lost her partner in crime. Now she has to relive the week she just witnessed without her companion at her side.(Post-cannon and based heavily on cannon events. Continuation of a universe where you sacrifice Chloe)





	1. The Storm Never Comes

The wind whipped Max’s hair across her face and the rain made it stick to her forehead and lip. The lighthouse stood steady against the oncoming storm as Max gazed at it and her feet sunk into the wet ground. She glanced over her shoulder and she couldn’t help but hold her gaze on the sight she saw. A funnel dipping its way closer to the water sent the surrounding clouds into a vortex. The trees bowed at the awful image. Arcadia Bay was already victim to destruction as the winds blew down unstable buildings and sent semis up and across the road.  
  
“This is my storm! I caused this, I caused all of this!” Max shouted across to her best friend, her lover? She wasn’t sure exactly but that didn’t really matter in that moment.  
                  
“I changed fate and destiny so much that… I actually  _did_  alter the course of everything! And all I  _really_  created was just death and destruction.” Max couldn’t tear her eyes from the storm until she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder.  
                  
“Fuck all of that, okay? You were given a power. You didn’t ask for it… and you saved me. Which had to happen, all of this did… except for what happened to Rachel. But without your power, we wouldn’t have found her! Okay so you’re not the Goddamn Time Master, but you’re Maxine Caulfield… and you’re amazing.” Chloe’s voice seemed to calm Max down a little but it didn’t stop the eminent fate of Arcadia Bay.   
  
Max looked back out at the storm and then returned her gaze to Chloe. She had a look on her face Max didn’t like.  
                 
“Max… this is the only way.” Chloe handed her the photo of the blue butterfly she had taken a picture of only five days ago. Max had forgotten the photo completely and reminisced on her time of being normal, but a rush of dread and uncertainty hit her when she realized what the picture meant.  
                  
“I feel like I took this shot a thousand years ago.” Max took the paper and held it numbly in her hands.  
                  
  
“You… you could use that photo to change everything right back to when you took that picture… All that would take is for me to—,”   
                  
“Fuck that! No, no way. You are my number one priority now. You are  _all_  that matters to me.” Max could feel warm streams of water against her cheeks that stood out against the already present cold ones.  
                  
“I know. You’ve proved that over and over again… even though I don’t deserve it. I’m so selfish… not like my mom… Look what she had to give up and live through… and she did. She deserves so much more than to be killed in a storm by a fucking diner. Even my step… father deserves her alive. There’s so many more people in Arcadia Bay who deserves to live… way more than me…”  
                  
“Don’t say that… I won’t trade you.”       

“You’re not trading me. Maybe you’ve just been delaying my real destiny… Look how many times I’ve almost died or actually died around you. Look at what’s happened in Arcadia Bay ever since you first saved me. I know I’ve been selfish, but for once I think I should accept my fate… our fate—”

“Chloe!” Max looked at her helplessly.

“Max, you finally came back to me this week, and… you did nothing but show me your love and friendship. You mad me smile and laugh like I haven’t done in years. Wherever I end up after this… in whatever reality… all those moments between us were real, and they’ll always be ours. No matter what you choose, I know you’ll make the right decision.”

“Chloe, I can’t make this choice!” Chloe gripped Max’s arms firmly to steady her.               

“No, Max… You’re the only one who can.”

Max felt dizzy and angry and frustrated. She wished she could just not be in her situation and to have Chloe in a universe where she wasn’t in danger and neither were the other people she loved. She looked at her photo again and her hands trembled and her breath caught in her throat. She almost felt like she could just collapse and die in that moment.

“Max, it’s time.” Chloe looked serenely calm and that made Max even angrier. Wouldn’t Chloe miss her? Didn’t she care about how  _she_ felt about this? Why would she make her decide this after all the decisions she had already made? If she let Chloe die, all she had done in the last five days wouldn’t mean anything.

“Chloe… I’m so, so sorry… I—I don’t want to do this.” Chloe pulled Max into a hug and looked at her with sureness as well as fear.

“I know, Max. But we have to. We have to save everybody, okay? And you’ll make those fuckers pay for what they did to Rachel. Being together this week… it was the best farewell gift I could have hoped for. You’re my hero Max.”

Max didn’t know how to say goodbye, especially not like this. She never wanted to say goodbye to Chloe ever again. Although she hated her in that moment for making her decide something so horrible, she couldn’t help but remember how much she had come to love Chloe. As a friend and maybe more.

She didn’t want to say anything so she let her actions speak for her. She stepped closer to Chloe and held her face gently with her hands. Chloe understood and her gaze softened to a look Max had only ever seen one other time. They both leaned together and connected their lips in a painfully sweet kiss. The warmth from each other’s mouths combated the cold rain and made Max feel closer to home than she’d ever feel in a long time.

Chloe pulled Max a little closer and the longer they kissed, the more painful it was until Max stepped away. She looked up at Chloe and there were tears streaming down her face.

“I’ll always love you… Now, get out of here, please! Do it before I freak.” Chloe was starting to unhinge and Max could tell. It made her panic even worse.  
  
“And Max Caulfield? Don’t you forget about me…”

“Never.” Max whispered. She looked down at her photo again and began to focus on it. She blinked away her tears and let her powers flow through her. She closed her eyes and let out a sob.

She opened her eyes to the girls' bathroom. All she could do was lean against the stall out of sight and collapse into a heap to continue crying. She heard Nathan walk into the bathroom and the next was a fog of sound until the gun shot. She couldn’t stop the tears at that point, knowing her greatest companion was dead.

\-----

Max opened her eyes again to a hospital bed. She blinked away the cloudiness and took in her surroundings. The room was dark and her arm was hooked up to an IV and she was wearing the usual hospital gown. She looked at her arms and hands and nothing seemed to be wrong with her so she began to sit up before a jolt of full body pain pulsed through her. She winced and she heard a familiar female voice talk to her. Something about laying back down and resting before she blacked out again. 


	2. Tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max wakes up to her new reality.

Max awoke at the sound of the same familiar female voice. She pried her eyes open to see herself in the same position as she was before, but this time she didn’t try to move. The room was dimmed, but the sun still crept through the curtains in front of the windows to her right. She looked in front of her to see her mother and father sitting in chairs at the other side of the room.

“Hey, she’s waking up,” her mother spoke softly to her father. “Max, how do you feel?” Her mother spoke again. She and Max’s father stood and walked slowly to the side of the bed.

“I feel--,” Max paused mid sentence. Her voice was quiet and strained like she hadn’t spoken in a week. She cleared her throat and began to speak again.

“I feel fine,” she said steadier than before. “I just kinda feel a little icky.”

Her mother and father smiled down at her. 

“Well breakfast will be coming soon and maybe we can see if you’re allowed to get up and shower,” her father said warmly. 

“Breakfast? What day is it?” 

“It’s Tuesday,” her mother replied. 

 _Tuesday?_ She didn’t exactly remember how she got in the hospital in the first place. _This room looks like Kate’s except that didn’t happen or isn’t going to happen? At least I hope._

“Why am I here?”

Her parent’s exchanged nervous glances.

“We were called by some of your friends. They said you were wandering the halls until you finally collapsed in front of your dorm. They called us and then brought you to the hospital. We came as quickly as we could. The doctors said you were fine except mild dehydration.” Her mother spoke with concern. 

“Oh…” Max didn’t know what to say. She stared down at her hands laying over her stomach. One wrist had a hospital bracelet and an IV drip inserted in it. She tentatively moved a hand to her face. _No pain…_ She moved her hand up to her eye to rub it but on her way she felt a light bandage over her nose. 

“What’s this?”

“Oh your friends also said they found you face down and your nose was pretty bloody. It started bruising so the doctors think it’s broken.” Her father ended his sentence with the slightest of smirks, probably acknowledging the clumsiness of his daughter. 

 _Way to go Mad Max. You managed to fall on your face. Wait until Chloe--_  

“Chloe…” Max whispered aloud. 

“Oh, Chloe is…” Her mother looked at her father. 

“She was taken to the hospital immediately,” her father finished. “She’s stable but not doing well. They gave her a massive blood transfusion and had to operate as soon as possible.” 

Max had begun to cry again as all the memories came back to her suddenly feeling very heavy at the week that just happened yet never will happen. She was taken back hearing Chloe was still alive. 

“She’s alive?” Max spoke through the tears. She felt the weight lift from her for a moment and hopeful with the thought that Chloe could make it through all of this. “I need to see her!” 

She began to sit up but a slow ache still plagued her muscles. _What the fuck it’s like I’ve worked out or something._ She ignored the pain and reached for her IV to tear it out. 

“No you need to stay and rest.” Her father spoke gently as he pushed down on her arm in fear she was actually going to rip her IV out. 

“But I _need_ to see her,” Max looked urgently at her parents just as a nurse knocked on the door. 

“Come in,” her father spoke loudly enough to hear through the closed door. 

The nurse opened the door with a tray of breakfast foods along with the hospital generic jello. He pulled up a foldable table from the side of the bed and set the tray of food on it. 

There wasn’t much food there but as Max looked at it for longer she was ready to nosh. Her stomach gave her away. 

“How are you feeling this morning, Maxine?” The nurse spoke in a deep and soothing voice, slightly amused by the stomach grumbles. 

“I’m feeling better, I guess,” Max spoke back, mostly focusing on the food. 

“Any dizziness, nausea, muscle aches, anything like that?”

“A little bit of muscle ache but that’s it.”

“Alright, that might be from your fall. We advise you to drink plenty of fluids when we release you, but for mental health I recommend seeing someone. We’ll talk more about it when the pediatrician comes to see you. Enjoy your meal.” The nurse left as quickly as he came.

“Thanks…” Max trailed off as she became more and more distracted by the food in front of her. Once the nurse left the room, she dug in. Scrambled eggs with a piece of ham and orange juice as well as delicious jello. As she filled her growling stomach, she let the nurse’s words sink in. _Seeing someone? Like a therapist?_ Max wasn’t sure she had the time _or_ money for that, especially after this gnarly hospital bill her parents were going to receive.

“Slow down there, killer,” her father spoke with amusement.

“So… hungry…” Almost as soon as Max began to eat she became too full to continue. _No wonder they didn’t bring much food. Even being so hungry I can barely eat at all._

Once she was done eating, she began to feel her eyelids go heavy.

“I’m getting kind of sleepy,” she warned her parents.

“That’s okay. We brought some of your favourite movies. You can fall asleep to one because I know you’re so good at that,” her mother said with a smile on her face. “Would you like to watch _Blade Runner_ or _Dune_?”

“ _Blade Runner_ all the way.” She smiled to herself. _Maybe I can bring it over to Chloe and we can watch it together. Just like we used to._

Her mother inserted the DVD into the TV suspended at the end of the room. She didn’t get through much of the movie before she fell asleep yet again.

\---------

Max awoke again to a low chatter of mixed voices. She opened her eyes to see Kate and Warren sitting across the room talking with her parents. She couldn’t help but smirk at the sight of her friends.

“Hey, the Max is alive!” Warren almost shouted. He and Kate got up to stand in front of Max’s bed. “So… how do you feel.”

“I’m fine. Just a little muscle ache.” Max smiled and noticed Kate still wasn’t talking much. From Chloe getting shot and Nathan being arrested, the attention seemed to shift from Kate, but that didn’t mean she didn’t still feel guilty about it. “Hey Kate. Are you feeling okay?”

“Oh Max, I’m doing fine. You shouldn’t be so concerned seeing as _you’re_ the one in the hospital.” Kate smiled her usual kind-hearted smile.

_If you only knew._

“I just want to know if you’re okay.”

“I’m doing fine. Actually, better.” Kate’s voice seemed lighter and her eyes had lost the red puffiness Max was so accustomed to seeing recently.

“By the way. You can keep the USB as long as you want seeing your movie selection over there isn’t the greatest.” Warren grinned and rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

“Hey, I like my movies thank you very much,” Max said with a little giggle. Talking to her friends was making her feel better already and soon she’d get to talk to Chloe too.

“So, my parents said I was wandering the dorms and a couple of my friends came to the rescue. You weren’t lurking in the girl’s dorms, were you Warren?”

“Ha! No way, Max. I don’t want to catch the bitch half those girls are suffering from,” Warren replied slyly. “Not even for you, Max. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I like knowing I have even a little bit of privacy. So who was the other person who helped me after I fell?”

“Actually,” Kate was trying to hold back laughter, “it was Victoria.”

“Victoria?! She actually cares about me?”

“I know,” Kate let a giggle slip, “I shouldn’t be gossiping like this. What she did was really kind. She was the one that called me to help her with you.”

“You seem okay with Victoria. Why?”

“When we were waiting for the ambulance to come, she told me she was sorry for uploading the video of me. She said she wanted to forget the tension between us so we could work to help you. Then we turned you over on your back. You weigh more than you look, Max.” Kate finished with a grin. 

“Hey, I’ve been at least _thinking_ of going vegan.” Max smiled at Kate’s joke. She hadn’t heard one from her in so long. “And Victoria helping me… wowsers.”

“That’s the bitch I’m specifically trying not to catch,” Warren added.

“Well she told me she’d be by to visit here sometime soon,” Kate stated.

“So everything's cool between you two?’

“Yeah, for now at least,” Kate said with a sigh of relief.

Max was happy to hear that. She didn’t want a repeat of what happened in the other reality. She suddenly remembered Jefferson. _If Nathan was dealt with, I’m sure he was too._

“Did either of you hear about Mr. Jefferson?”

“Um, yeah. Some police came to lock him up. No one knows the details. Everyone’s sure it has to do with Nathan. I’m sure you don’t know much about it either, Max.” Warren laughed at his supposedly obvious assumption.

“You have no idea…” Max giggled nervously back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that in the game, Max becomes conscious in her new reality during the funeral, so this will be sorta out of cannon in the fact that she remembers all the events from the previous reality throughout the week. 
> 
> Also out of cannon, will Chloe live ????? Who knows.... stay tuned to find out.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how far this fanfiction will go but I'm planning on short chapters but long story.
> 
> Also changed the format a little?? I noticed how wonky it looked so I tried to make it look more simple???


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